Soul and Inspiration: Negro Spirituals
Today on Soul and Inspiration, we’re going back to the OGs — negro spirituals. Before the modern gospel era, it was negro spirituals, or sorrow songs, that connected Black people living in America to God and sustained them in the midst of slavery. Today we’ll explore some of these songs and the modern artists who have been inspired by them.
wrir.org/listen?show=202403282300
Soul artist Vahn Black
Jazz and roots artist Lizz Wright
Show archive
Playlist
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Fisk Jubilee Singers, “Wade in the Water”
from Celebrating Fisk! (The 150th Anniversary Album)
Curb Records - 2020
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Marian Anderson, “Plenty Good Room (2021 Remastered Version)”
from Marian Anderson Sings Great Spirituals (2021 Remastered Version)
RCA Red Seal - 1948
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Leontyne Price, “Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen”
from The Essential Leontyne Price - Spirituals, Hymns & Sacred Songs
RCA Gold Seal - 1997
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Paul Robeson & Alan Booth, “Old Man River”
from Every Time I Feel the Spirit
Editions Audiovisuel Beulah - 2018
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Leontyne Price, “On Ma Journey”
from The Essential Leontyne Price - Spirituals, Hymns & Sacred Songs
RCA Gold Seal - 1997
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Paul Robeson, Milt Okun Orchestra & Milt Okun Chorus, “John Brown's Body”
from Every Time I Feel the Spirit
Editions Audiovisuel Beulah - 2018
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Marian Anderson, “Honor, Honor (2021 Remastered Version)”
from Marian Anderson Sings Great Spirituals (2021 Remastered Version)
RCA Red Seal - 1948
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Sarah Vaughan, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”
from Precious & Rare: Sarah Vaughan
Le Chant du Monde - 2011
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Fisk Jubilee Singers & CeCe Winans, “Blessed Assurance”
from Celebrating Fisk! (The 150th Anniversary Album)
Curb Records - 2020
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Mahalia Jackson, “Take My Hand Precious Lord”
from Sings the Best-Loved Hymns of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Columbia/Legacy - 1956
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Bernice Johnson Reagon, “The Grey Goose”
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings/Folkways Records - 2004
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Odetta, “Spiritual Trilogy Medley / Oh Freedom / Come and Go with Me / I'm on My Way”
Tradition Records - 1956
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![Every Time I Feel the Spirit (feat. Church of Deliverance Choir & Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra) [Mono Version] - EP](https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music5/v4/82/26/2c/82262ca6-3a10-cc37-0d3f-33710a60153c/cover.jpg/170x170bb.jpg)
Nat King Cole, “Every Time I Feel the Spirit (feat. Church of Deliverance Choir & Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra)”
BNF Collection - 1960
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Fannie Lou Hamer, “Woke Up This Morning”
from Songs My Mother Taught Me
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings - 2015
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Rhiannon Giddens, “Mountain Banjo”
from The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2 (Original Soundtrack)
Lakeshore Records - 2019
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Prince, “Mary Don't You Weep (Piano & a Microphone 1983 Version)”
from Piano & a Microphone 1983
Warner Records - 2018
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Lizz Wright, “Your Love (feat. Meshell Ndegeocello & Brandee Younger)”
from Shadow
LIGHTYEAR (LTY) - 2024
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Beverly Glenn-Copeland, “Deep River (Live At Le Guess Who?)”
Transgressive - 2020
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Leyla McCalla, “Freedom Is a Constant Struggle (feat. Joy Clark, Lilli Lewis, Sabine McCalla, Sula Spirit & Cassie Watson Francillon)”
Anti/Epitaph - 2023
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